ATW80F Pop-Up Exhibition — Alyssa Gorman, BFA Textiles ’28

In the last month, my work with Around the World in 80 Fabrics has consisted of remotely brainstorming for the Pop-Up Exhibition. ATW80F has a book on sustainable textiles and the future of fabrication coming out this year. As an intern, I’ve been working with Carroll to develop a traveling mobile exhibition with some of the collection’s most beautiful pieces, all with incredible stories to tell. The exhibition will be housed in a suitcase, and will consist of a series of textiles accompanied by storytelling cards. My role has been to create engaging cards with the “metadata” ATW80F has collected on each piece. I’ll share a little bit of my process from the last few weeks in this blog! Next week, I return to New Mexico to organize the collection in person, and I’ll be able to share more.

Because the traveling exhibition only includes a selection of the total number of fabrics in the collection, I’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about each piece! For each textile, the goal is that a viewer will be able to understand the ecological and regional origin, the artist’s narrative, the environmental significance, and the cultural value. Below are two examples of informational cards I’ve designed to accompany the pieces. Around 20 fabrics will be included in the traveling showcase.

The cards are intended to serve as storytelling tools. The ATW80F collection is both a physical materials library of sustainable alternatives to petroleum based fabrics AND a rich archive of cultural heritage and disappearing textile techniques. I’m thrilled to be able to assist with the development of the Pop-Up as a tool for spreading these stories. I’ll include some drawings below of how the cards are intended to work within the exhibit.

Next week, I’m super excited to share more about my second trip to New Mexico! I’ll be back in Santa Fe with the collection, working with Carroll and Lesli to curate and organize every piece. We’ll also be putting together the Pop-Up and I’ll be able to share more progress.